


i wish with all my might

by earlymorningechoes



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, Gift Fic, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, i had this idea and immediately had to write it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28301463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlymorningechoes/pseuds/earlymorningechoes
Summary: Kaidan's away, and Sam Shepard is anxious he won't be home in time for Christmas. Kaidan's mother Lora tries to calm him down.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	i wish with all my might

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swaps55](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swaps55/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Swaps!! I love Sam and Kaidan so much, and I wanted to borrow them for a minute :)
> 
> Title and lyrics at the beginning are from the song "Hey Santa" by Carnie and Wendy Wilson.

_The Christmas lights up and down the street  
_ _Are such a sight to see_  
 _But all the presents by the tree  
They don’t mean a thing ‘til he’s with me_

Sam paces up and down in front of the fireplace, so tightly coiled Lora is mildly worried he’ll snap in half. He’ll at least work a path into the rug before too long. His eyes keep straying to the window, where heavy, wet snow has already started to blanket the mud and grass. 

“What if he doesn’t make it?” he asks plaintively, and her heart melts. Knowing her son’s heart is in this man’s hands does her a world of good. 

Even when his incessant pacing is driving her up the wall. “He’ll be home. He wouldn’t miss Christmas with you for the galaxy.” Uncurling from her seat on the couch, she nods at the front door. “Why don’t you go check on Echo, and make sure the path to the barn stays clear? I’ll check on the food.”

His answering nod is sharp and tight. He shrugs into his heavy coat, and for once remembers a hat without being reminded. She calls after him to put his gloves on, and his sheepish answering grin has her grinning back. Then he’s gone, and she can hear the snow shovel scraping on the gravel path. 

Good. Maybe the physical exertion will help bleed off some of his nervous energy. But now that he’s outside, her own eyebrows knit together in worry - for all her reassurances to Sam, she’s not sure any civilian train or skycar is going to be able to get through this blizzard if it keeps up. Pulling up a weather forecast on her omnitool, she scrutinizes the hour-by-hour predictions on the storm. If Kaidan was able to catch the earlier train, he might _just_ make it before the storm really kicks into high gear. But her hopes of that aren’t extremely high, given that he hasn’t messaged either of them since this morning. 

Making her way into the kitchen, she does check on the food like she’d told Sam she would. Everything’s ready for the three of them, just needs to be reheated and plated - Sam’s favorite stuffing, the cranberry sauce Kaidan can never get enough of. 

And the gravy, made from Marc’s mother’s recipe. She can’t imagine a holiday without it, but the tears threatening to roll down her cheeks make her think it might be time to retire it. She shoves the gravy behind the cranberry sauce, trying to put it out of her mind. 

The kitchen feels too small, after that, so she steps back into the living room and examines the presents under the tree. A number are for Kaidan and Sam from various acquaintances across the years, but there’s a large portion for her as well. The number of gifts for her from just one of Kaidan or Sam makes her smile - she can just imagine them having a competition for who can get her the best gifts. 

——

Finally reaching the barn at the other end of the path, Sam leans the snow shovel next to the door and knocks snow and mud off his boots. Echo whickers as soon as he walks inside, and he feels an almost literal weight of worry lift off his shoulders. Lora’s right. If it’s at all possible, Kaidan will definitely be home tonight. He steps into Echo’s stall, reaching up to scratch behind her ears. But before he can she’s already snuffling into his coat pockets, looking for a snack. Laughing, he extricates himself from her ministrations to grab a carrot from the container in the tack room.

He stops short, noticing the wreath Lora had hung on the tack room’s door earlier in the month. He vaguely remembers her putting it up, but he hasn’t taken notice since. For some reason, it’s caught his eye today. When Echo whickers again, disappointed at waiting for her snack, he realizes why. With a glance back at the horse, he estimates the size of both her neck and the innocent wreath. Maybe a little too big for her, even - it’s a big wreath. 

Grabbing the carrot, he pulls the wreath off its nail and steps back into Echo’s stall. Handing her the carrot to distract her, he slides the wreath over her head as gently as possible. It slides down, coming to a rest just before her shoulders. Apparently unbothered, she regards him with one big brown eye, the same way she does whenever he saddles up for a ride. Maybe the wreath just feels like a mildly itchy harness. 

He attaches a lead to her halter, opening the stall door wide enough for her to walk out. “Come here, you. We’ve got to show Lora your Christmas getup.”

——

Kaidan peers anxiously out the skycar’s window. The landscape is familiar, even with the snow falling thicker every minute, but it’s a race against nature at this point to get home before the storm grounds every civilian vehicle. What he wouldn’t give for the Mako right now, although he will never in his life tell Shepard he’s ever had that thought. 

“We’re almost to the address you gave me,” the driver says suddenly, breaking into Kaidan’s thoughts. “You’re lucky I live out this way, or else I’d probably have turned back by now.”

“Lucky indeed. Thank you.” He turns back to the window, straining to see through the snow. Are those...yes, finally, he can see the barren branches of the trees in the orchard poking through the shifting gusts of white. He gathers his belongings from the back of the cab, including his gloves that had made their way onto the floor. When he’s all settled again, he can see the outline of the house and the barn through the haze. Looking back at the driver, he does a double take - he certainly doesn’t remember the man’s beard being quite that bushy. Or that white. But he must’ve just been distracted, hurrying himself into the first cab that would take him home in the face of an impending blizzard. He smirks at himself - too much Christmas on the brain.

When they pull up to a stop, Kaidan notices the snow shovel propped against the barn wall. Shepard must’ve gone out to keep the path clear and decided to check on Echo while he was at it. He smiles to himself - that horse has done wonders, for which Kaidan will be thanking whatever’s out there for the rest of his life.

Looping the strap of his duffel bag over his shoulder, he waves his omnitool over the console in the middle between the two front seats to pay. “Thanks again. Happy holidays,” he tells the driver, who waves to indicate he should get out of the car.

“Never mind that, go celebrate with your sweetheart,” the driver replies, gesturing more enthusiastically when Kaidan doesn’t move.

“Wait - how did you - what -”

“Go!” the driver says again, grinning broadly. Kaidan tumbles out of the car, belatedly realizing he’s not wearing his gloves yet and pulling them on. He hears the car jump back into the air, but he’s no longer paying attention - he’s watching the barn door open, his heart beating ferociously in his chest the way it always does when he hasn’t seen Shepard for longer than usual.

Shepard’s not alone, though. He’s leading Echo by her halter, and something looks different about the horse. Kaidan peers through the thickening snow, trying to decipher what his eyes are telling him.

Then it hits him. “Did you put a wreath around that horse’s neck?” he calls out, raising his voice to be heard above the wind.

Shepard stops short at the sound of his voice. The visibility’s getting steadily worse, but Kaidan squints enough to see him drop the lead rope and then suddenly he’s getting barreled over. His feet weren’t planted right to hold both their weight, and they topple over into the snow piled beside the path. Laughing, he pulls Shepard closer for a long, slow kiss. “Hey, you.”

Before Shepard can respond, the door to the house bangs open. “I heard noises, Sam, is everything all ri-” Kaidan’s mother catches sight of them sprawled in the snow together and cuts herself off. “Kaidan! You’re home! When did you get here? Are you all right? Who dropped you off?”

“Hi, Mom,” he interrupts, disentangling himself from Sam’s arms and reaching out a hand to pull him up. “I just got here, the cab just left. The driver said he lived around here, so he was heading straight home after dropping me off.” He dusts snow off his coat and jeans, trying to suppress the shiver when his cold pants touch his skin.

His mother, of course, still notices. “Oh! You’re cold! Come inside, I’ve got the fireplace going already and you can get warm.” She turns to go back inside, then turns back around slowly. Her eyes narrow as she looks past them both.

“Sam, is Echo wearing the wreath from the tack room around her neck?”

Echo, for her part, nickers in response. Kaidan can no longer hold in his next burst of laughter, and after a moment they’re all laughing.

“Merry Christmas?” Shepard asks with a shrug, once he can say it through the laughter.

“Merry Christmas,” Kaidan replies, pressing another kiss to his lips.


End file.
